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The Dragonborn Houses
The Houses are an odd entity on the political landscape. They are not allowed to be direct participants in the politics of any nation, owing to the Treaty of Magar’s prohibition on Dragonborn rulers, yet they are often essential to those same politics. The Houses are essentially private organizations with more money than several nations and a keen interest in land ownership and trade. In feudal nations where landowners are nobility, the Houses can rival kings in real estate and still not get a seat in council. In plutocratic governments where the richest rule, trade princes are beggared by comparison. In any nation the Dragonborn Houses own half the merchant concerns and a good deal of the production trades and yet are disallowed from using this considerable clout to meddle in the affairs of the state. In practice, they meddle. Oh how they meddle. It is perhaps for the best that the Houses have long accepted their place outside of the spotlight of the games of state, and instead turned their attention to playing games with each other. Each of the six Major Houses uses all their vast resources, and all their own members, like pieces on a gameboard. A trade deal here to undercut another House’s efforts there, a mill shut down in one place to force another House to overextend their resources in another. Minor Houses also play this game, allying with the Major Houses to strengthen their own position, cultivating friendships and enmities in order to perhaps one day surprise one of the Major Houses enough to usurp its place. Almost all efforts of the Houses are bent towards this internal struggle for prestige and dominance. What does this mean for the rest of the world? A lot more than they know. With the Houses controlling so much trade and resources, their games can twist entire nations into knots. People can find their land bought out from under them, their jobs vanishing. However, Dragonborn landlords are renowned for the fair way they treat their tenants, and with their drive to use every available resource to their benefit, a man put out of work often finds another job eager for his skills. Nations may twitch to the Dragonborn tune, but any outright puppeteering is met with vicious retaliation and harsh sanctions, so their manipulations have to be kept discreet. No nation can be said to be controlled by the Dragonborn from the shadows, but everyone must admit to their sometimes heavy-handed influence. The personal charisma and power of the Dragonborn muddy things further, as they are easy to despise distantly, but hard to hate in person. With their ubiquitous hand in all manner of affairs it is a rare person who goes their life without meeting at least one Dragonborn face-to-face. Thus the opinion among common people of the Houses tends to even out at a bumpy neutrality. They neither love nor hate the Houses, wary of their influence, but enamored of their charm. Category:World Powers